Western Villages Lit Up; B.E.L. Warns Against Close Contact with Power Lines
With only two more days to go before the end of the year, Belize Electricity Limited says it has met its promise to connect four communities with electricity. The villages of Selena, Santa Teresita, Los Tambos and San Marcos now have power lines for electricity, which means about three hundred households will now have access to current. According to B.E.L., the main parts of the villages now have access to electricity, but there is ongoing work to complete the power installation by March 2018. The electricity company says that it has connected more than one hundred communities since 2014 and is confident that by 2020 ninety-eight percent of Belizean households will have access to electricity. In video footage provided by B.E.L., villagers of the four communities that recently received power expressed what it means to have access.
William Lopez
William Lopez, San Marcos Village
“It is exciting for the community. I think everybody has been waiting for this month for a long time and many years ago, posts were put down and abandoned, so that was bad. But after many years it’s here. I am sure everybody is excited to see the job is being done.”
Karen Grijalva
Karen Grijalva, Los Tambos Village
“I feel like more than electricity, you gonna empower people here because it will represent not only having light but progress too. On the side of my family they are starting a business and they are trying to keep down the cost but it not easy not having electricity. It will also change like for the children who go to school they can have computer and have more ways of learning – more than they have right now and electricity will help them out in that regard.”
Misael Grijalva
Misael Grijalva, Los Tambos Village [Translated]
“We have a ranch, where we produce milk and meat, in other words, a cattle or bovine ranch. The benefits us in the sense that we currently deliver our product all the way to Spanish Lookout. So, this will help to decrease costs. We won’t travel daily to take products to the company. Instead, we will be able to get a tank to store the milk and with a vehicle we can take it to the company.”
Hector Perez
Hector Perez, Santa Teresita Village [Translated]
“This is a joy for all the villages in this area because for many areas we have been waiting for this. When there is electricity, there is more production.”
On another note, B.E.L. is warning residents about the life-threatening dangers of close contact with power lines. The company is now asking the public not to build structures and plant trees near power lines. The plea is being made in light of the two persons who lost their lives this year whilst working near high voltage power lines – the most recent case was last week.
